Alfred Beit – Kimberley – 20 November 2017 Alfred Beit – South Africa’s financial genius Part 1 Kimberley The Right Man, in the Right Place, at the Right Time! The Man – was Alfred Beit, born in 1853, into a Jewish family in Hamburg. He was arguably the single most effective person in the transformation of Southern Africa from a sleepy dry agricultural backwater, into not one, but several modern industrial countries. But you would probably never know it – he hated publicity and preferred others to shine in the foreground. He did not set out to be a rich or powerful man. He just loved to make things happen in the most effective way to benefit as many people as possible and he relished the work involved. He was popular and attracted business like a magnet. He had an enviable reputation for generosity, integrity and fair play. Nevertheless, when he died at the age of just 53 he was possibly one the wealthiest men in the world. The place was the desert in the middle of South Africa where this boyish, fun- loving, young German arrived at the age of 22 to deal in diamonds. Kimberley is where he joined the influential French Diamond company J Porgès and Co and grew into a hugely successful organiser of and investor in mining companies as well a major diamond merchant – and became a great friend and colleague of Cecil John Rhodes. Figure 1: Alfred Beit at his home in Park Lane with his beloved pet terrier Jackie The Time was 1875 – nearly a decade after diamonds had been discovered in such abundance in what became Kimberley. The day of the individual digger was more or less over, and some strong organisation and control was urgently needed to make the extraction of them stable and profitable. And this Beit, working with others, was ultimately destined to accomplish. Page 1 of 70 Alfred Beit – Kimberley – 20 November 2017 Hardly anyone knows the real Alfred Beit, or his role. He is not much mentioned by historians of the period or documented in literature, and he himself preferred to be in the background and let others, like his much loved and admired friend Cecil Rhodes, and even the cunning JB Robinson take the main publicity. He was one of the most successful financiers bringing European capital to South Africa, which was vital to ensure the success of the diamond fields around Kimberley and the deep gold mines of the Rand. He was a partner of Porgès in Kimberley and the co-founder, with Wernher and Porgès of the most successful group of companies on the Rand – known as ‘The Corner House’. At the same time, he supported Rhodes in his dreams of British Empire building – conquering the Transvaal as well as developing the lands north of the Transvaal. Beit ended his days in 1906, as a British subject, at his country house, Tewin Waters, in Hertfordshire, as a South African legend with a powerful office in London, Wernher Beit & Co, and a home in Park Lane. I am going to try to delve a little deeper into Alfred Beit and take us on the adventure that Beit so relished and into which he threw himself so wholeheartedly. I have researched the writings of his colleagues, contemporaries and commentators. In telling the story of the significance and personality of Beit, I inevitably also tell the story of the development of Kimberley itself which includes many of the other noteworthy characters and activities that took place. Beit’s Guiding Spirit were businessmen. They Beit’s guiding spirit was to develop the diamond and gold industries in the most beneficial way for all, and to bring his colleagues, and also, even his competitors, to prosperity with him. His protégé JB Taylor (later a partner in his firm), in his reminiscences ‘A Pioneer Looks Back’ of 1939: said of his nature that ‘Alfred Beit had the kindest, most generous, and loveable nature of any man that ever drew breath. One could not help loving the dear man, for he was so perfectly natural and human and had such a broad outlook on life. He was very generous in rewarding anyone who introduced profitable business to him: consequently, most people who had propositions to offer, came to him before going to anyone else. He never bore any malice and never said an uncharitable thing about anyone. In all his activities, he had a most unselfish disposition and also was always thoughtful for others. He never forgot a friend.’ He concluded that ‘Beit was the best friend South Africa has ever had. He rendered more practical service to the country than any man I know of.’ One of the most spectacular coincidences of the time was that Cecil John Rhodes, also born in 1853, had also arrived on these, the richest diamond diggings ever found, at about the same time. The two men from very different backgrounds, were developing plans along the same lines – both having realised as others had too, that consolidation was needed of the diamond interests Page 2 of 70 Alfred Beit – Kimberley – 20 November 2017 if the business was to remain viable and prosper. When they met, a great fire was ignited that lit up the whole of Southern Africa for generations to come. Rhodes, the visionary, the driver, the charmer and the politician is usually the only one credited with achieving amalgamation of the Kimberley diamond mines. But it was only possible with the help of Beit, the brilliant financial planner, who had the right contacts in Europe, who grasped the possibilities, worked out the risks and the strategy, and who worked with Rhodes all the way – and who made all the deals that mattered. They made an invincible partnership. Taylor says: ‘There is no doubt that Beit fell completely under the spell of Cecil Rhodes who inspired him with the enthusiasm that urged them both to spend large sums of money in developing not only the diamond mines, but also the gold mines and the country which subsequently became Rhodesia; and although at that time, Germany was looking with envious eyes upon the enormous tract of country over which Rhodes openly declared that the British flag must fly, yet Beit abandoned his German nationality, became a British subject and an enthusiastic worker for the expansion of the British Empire.’ Taylor goes on to comment that ‘considering how much Alfred Beit did for South Africa, it is surprising how little is known of his activities or of the man himself. ‘The present generation does not appear to realise, though Beit’s contemporaries knew it 30 years ago, that it was largely due to Beit’s initiative and support, that Rhodes was able to amalgamate the Kimberley diamond properties, and create De Beers Consolidated Mines.’ In part 2 of this saga, I will look at how it was Beit who saw the opportunities opening up, in 1884 in the early days of the newly discovered Transvaal goldfields first in the Eastern Transvaal and then in 1886 on the Rand (while still battling in Kimberley with the amalgamation). It was Beit who funded and collaborated with one of the old rascals of the diamond world, JB Robinson, it was Beit who rescued him from financial ruin and funded Robinson as a partner to go and start purchasing what turned out to be very rich gold properties on the Rand. And it was Beit, who through his most important gold mining office set the standards for managing the gold industry. Beit rose to be a pivotal player not only in South Africa, but on the world stage, conversing with the German Keiser and members of the British government and other world leaders. Yet Alfred Beit’s name and his activities are not as well-known as the more flamboyant characters of Rhodes, Barnato, Kruger and Jameson. This was intentional. Beit was an intensely private man, with nervous mannerisms, eschewing publicity at all turns. He preferred others to reap where he had sown – and what was written about his character was often inaccurate. Page 3 of 70 Alfred Beit – Kimberley – 20 November 2017 His benevolence and generosity were legendary. He gave away many large donations to strangers and good causes, and supported his fellows who had fallen on hard times. He never turned anyone away empty handed. In his will, when he died in 1906 at the age of just 53 at his country home in Hertfordshire, he bequeathed large sums in Kimberley and other places in South Africa, in Britain and in Germany, and funded a trust to establish rail and telecommunications networks, to complete Rhodes intentions and dreams, in Rhodesia. Researching through the writings of his contemporaries, such as Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, JB Taylor, Lionel Phillips, JB Robinson, George Beet and biographies by Seymour Fort and the Hamburg University, and other sources such as Brian Roberts ‘Kimberley Turbulent City’ and ‘The Diamond Magnates’ – and for part 2, both Paul Emden’s The Randlords of 1932 and Geoffrey Wheatcroft’s of 1985, I have tried to piece together a more rounded picture of the man who was Alfred Beit, his circumstances and what he achieved. But let us start at the beginning: Alfred Beit’s Family Background in Hamburg Alfred Beit was born in Hamburg on 15 February 1853 into an extensive family of well-to-do Jewish industrialists, international traders and bankers. He was the eldest son and second of six children of Siegfried and Laura Beit, nee Hahn. His close relationship with his mother lasted throughout his short life and she was the chief mourner at his death.